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The Next Page bookstore has become so much more than just a place to browse for your favorite titles. With the addition of weekly live music and story times, more food options and even a new name — The Next Page Books & Nosh — the little book shop on Main Street is becoming a new community hangout in Frisco.

“When it was The Tea Bar, that didn’t really cover everything that we’ve started to carry,” said Lisa Holenko, manager of The Next Page, of the store’s new moniker. “Nosh kind of indicates little bits and pieces, come in and get little snacks, more than an actual meal. It left us open to play with what we were going to carry, too.”

Stories for little kids

Holenko said customers had expressed interest in a weekly story time and the timing finally felt right when owner Karen Berg hired bookseller Dawn Truesdell.

“A lot of people asked us if we had one, and when we hired Dawn — she’s a nursery school teacher, has been for 20 years — it seemed like the right time to get that going,” Holenko said.

The free story time happens at 10:30 a.m. every Friday, followed by an activity, song or art project that goes along with the featured book, Truesdell said.

Truesdell chooses books aimed at target audience of 4- to 5-year-olds, but the first two weeks drew children as young as 18 months and as old as 8. Story time provides something right in town for families to do during the summer months.

“We’ve had kind of a slow start, only a few kids so far, but we’re going to keep doing it all summer, so hopefully we’ll pick up a little bit,” Truesdell said. “We’re trying to teach them to enjoy stories and enjoy reading. It’s a good start to the rest of their lives of loving books.”

Music for big kids

The Next Page’s weekly Wednesday happy hour is aimed more at the big kids, with drink specials and live music from local artists, including Jobuk Johnson and Randall McKinnon, with various other guests thrown in from time to time.

“It seemed like Frisco could use a place that was a little quieter than a bar and a place that was maybe a bit more family-friendly to come listen to some music and be able to talk to one another and have some family time and friend time that wasn’t quite as loud as a bar environment,” Holenko said. “We’re calling it Frisco’s Living Room Concert Series.”

Part-time Frisco resident and singer-songwriter Nancy Cook played the inaugural happy hour on Wednesday, June 11.

“It was really good,” Holenko said. “People seem to really love her and she’s just very gracious, has a great personality, is really warm and welcoming, so I think she really drew people in, too.”